1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to aggregating and displaying information, and more particularly to organizing the efforts of a plurality of users.
2. Description of Related Art
A question or problem is typically posed in an effort to find a solution. Some problems are easy to pose (e.g., “what is the square root of four?” or “do you cast your vote for candidate A or candidate B?”). Some solutions may be provided explicitly and clearly by one person (e.g., “the square root of four is two.” or “I vote for candidate A.”).
Some problems may appear simple, but are more complicated than initially posed. For example, the problem “what is the square root of four?” might be answered with “are you only interested in the positive root?” Such problems may benefit from dialog among a range of people, some of whom provide input on the problem, some of whom provide input on the solution.
Some problems are difficult to answer (e.g., “why are those countries always fighting?” or “is French wine better than California wine?”). Such problems typically require extensive dialog for long periods of time among many people. Typically this dialog is unstructured, and the problem may remain unanswered, notwithstanding the effort of many people.
Complex problems often require input from many people with diverse ranges of skills. However, without organization of the input and output of the various people addressing a problem, their efforts may not be efficiently utilized. The more complex the problem, the more important is the organization of the efforts of those involved. In some cases (e.g., space flight), the organization of effort may be as important the effort itself.
Many complex problems require a solution, notwithstanding the difficulties of solving the problem. In such a situation, the problem and its solution may be directed toward achieving a specific goal. For example, during the NASA Apollo 13 lunar mission, a midflight accident jeopardized the safe return of the crew to Earth. In response to this accident, a clear goal (getting the crew back safely) was confounded by a wide range of disparate problems, all of which had to be (and fortunately were) successfully solved. Such complex problems benefit from organization of the efforts of the people involved. In the Apollo 13 mission, the organizational structure of NASA's Mission Control Center provided a critical functionality through which the efforts of those involved could be efficiently utilized.
Complex problems are typically addressed using an organized hierarchy (e.g., a command/control protocol). In such an hierarchy, an organizational structure is imposed upon (and/or adopted by) people working on the problem. For example, building a house may require a team of people working on the foundation, a team working on the framing, a team working on the windows, a team working on the roof, plumbers, electricians, painters, and the like. Such a problem typically requires a global hierarchy having many layers of management. The contractor responsible for building the house may direct the scheduling and efforts of subcontractors responsible for various components of the house, and each subcontractor may have its own manager and workers. For particularly complex problems (launching a satellite, operating a nuclear reactor, waging war), a rigid hierarchy ensures that many foreseeable problems are addressed (i.e., a portion of the hierarchy deals with each particular envisioned problem) and also minimizes redundancy of effort (the responsibility of each person is finite).
A particular challenge arises when a problem requires organization, but an organizational structure is not present a priori. Such problems have previously required the ad-hoc creation of an organizational structure to efficiently utilize resources (e.g., in emergency response). For example, a search party comprising hundreds of people may search for a lost child in the forest. While each member of the search party has some flexibility and freedom with respect to his/her search effort, the success of the search typically requires organization of the integrated effort of the search party, and so an organizational structure may be created to facilitate the response. The level of detail of such organization may vary, but even a small amount of organized information transfer (e.g., “this area has already been searched”) can significantly improve the overall efficiency of the search party. In these ad-hoc situations, the creation of organization of effort may be critical to accomplishment of the task. Such tasks benefit from the efforts of a large number of people, typically having a range of interest and competence, having at least some common desire for a solution to a problem. However, without organization, this effort may not be efficiently utilized.
Ad-hoc organization has historically required an assumption of authority or an acquiescence to an authority. Someone may “take control,” or the group may elect a leader in an effort to identify an individual or group responsible for the organization structure per se. However, such structures may not scale to the ad-hoc organization of large numbers of people (e.g., hundreds, thousands or millions). Some problems may not lend themselves to prior organizational structures (e.g., determining whether French wine is better than California wine using a command/control organization structure).
Some problems have the interest and/or commitment of many people, but lack the organizational structure to efficiently utilize their efforts. In such cases, the imposition of a “pre-ordained” organizational structure may not be acceptable to the people involved with solving the problem. In such cases, systems and methods to organize the effort of participants (working on a problem) may improve the efficiency of resource utilization and, by extension, the likelihood of solving the problem.